New Beginnings!

Happy Friday Eve everyone!

This week has been an exciting week for us. Last Thursday my husband and I went apartment hunting, and we found the one we liked!!!! Since we had a budget, we knew what we were looking for, but we only got to look at two apartments, which is ok because we ended up loving the second apartment we saw. Big living room and dining room, the kitchen is smaller than the one we had before, BUT there's plenty of counter space. It's a vintage building, but who cares! LOL  We feel that God was there the whole time because all I thought about was having people from church over and doing prayer groups, bible study, etc. There's parking space and lots of places to go to in the area. Plus, I'll only be 8-9 minutes away from my mom.

We filled out the application and just had to wait until everything was checked and verified. It wasn't until Monday when my husband got a phone call from the office that manages the apartment building. Everything was ok, but they couldn't verify his job (that always happens, don't know why). He took care of everything that same day and I get a phone call from him later that day saying that we were approved!

We'll be moving in April 1, but we were given the green light to start bringing our stuff over at the end of the month. So I'm super excited and thanking God every day for this blessing. It's been a major roller coaster living at my mom's, but I got to learn a lot (and still am) about having patience and letting God do his job. Let the countdown begin! : )

Angelica

Meatless Monday

Hi everyone! What a crazy weekend this has been! I hope your weekend went well : )

My little nephew spent the weekend at Abuela’s*, which is always fun, but he’s teething and was congested, so he was Mr. Cranky Pants Saturday and Sunday. Other than that, I LOVE it when he’s with us. He makes us laugh, he loves playing around with Tio’s phone or watching something on Netflix, aaaaaand my husband and I get to practice for when we have our own kids. 

All I get to hear when he's here is him laughing or crying, toys all over the floor, but when he goes back home and the whole house is quiet, it makes me sad. But I always look forward to his next visit : )

*My husband and I have been staying at my mom’s for 10 months now and we are going to start looking at apartments….AGAIN! It took us a long time to sit down and go over our budget, but we did it and I’m hoping we stick to it. I’m giving everything to God and trusting Him that this will work. I’ll keep you guys posted! : )

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I've been working on a meal plan for a couple of month now and this year I want to stick to it. Maybe tweak it every now and then. So Mondays will be Meatless Mondays, and the recipe I picked was Iowa Girl Eat's Bean Burgers.

I made this recipe last summer and it was delicious! With buns and without, on a salad, or by itself. Sadly, I didn't take a picture, but here's what goes in it:

Bean Burgers

1 can garbanzo beans

1 can black beans

3 T plain yogurt

1/3 c bread crumbs

1 t oregano

1/4 t cayenne

1/4 t paprika

1/4 t cumin

1/2 t salt

1 bunch of cilantro

juice of 1 lime (I used about 1 T of lime juice)

canola oil

1. In a food processor take half of the garbanzo beans and half of the black beans, yogurt, bread crumbs, oregano, cayenne, paprika, cumin, salt, cilantro, lime juice and mix well.

2. Once that's mixed well, add the other half of your beans to that and mash it with a potato masher in a bowl. 

3. Add some canola oil to your pan and let that heat up while you're forming your bean burgers. Cook them for about 10-15 minutes, until nicely browned on each side. 

I like to melt cheese on mine and eat it like that or with a salad. Enjoy!

Angelica

 

This is my year!

Man…January seems to be going by real fast. But I can’t complain! : )

2013 has left me with this feeling of making some huge changes. I know, I know…people always do that when the new year starts, but this time it’s for real!

It’s perfect timing, for me, because my mom is out of town and that gives me more time to focus on myself and prioritize things. There's a reason why I want  have to do this, because if I don't start somewhere things are just going to keep going downhill.

*****

For years I would go months without having my period, or the days I did get it it was pretty heavy and the cramps were bad. Now I bet there are women out there who would say that that's normal, but it isn't. About 2-3 years ago, I’ve been doing some research and I wanted to know what all these symptoms that I have meant. Everything I read…every symptom…I had it. I had PCOS (polycystic ovary syndrome). To know that I’ve been dealing with this for 17 years, it just left me…..I just couldn’t believe it. 

I go see my gyno and he tells me the same thing....I have PCOS. The doctor, of course, has me on the pill for a couple years, that doesn’t fix it, and then has me on some other stuff, that doesn’t fix it…here comes October 2013 and I’m about to have my FIRST outpatient surgery!

My husband and I have been talking about wanting kids for a couple of years now and after we got married, we definitely want to start a family. When I told my doctor that haven’t had a “regular” period and that I’ve been bleeding for months, almost a year, that’s when he suggested that I have a D & C/laparoscopy. Oh, boy! Was I nervous. I was freaking out because I’ve never gotten general anesthesia, so every wild and crazy thought was crossing my mind. I’m just glad it took a couple of hours and I was able to go home after that. I DO NOT like hospitals, and that hospital bed is uncomfortable. 

Two weeks later, I go see my doctor to get the stitches removed, and after talking to him for a while the doctor said that we can definitely start trying to have kids, but he was giving us 6 month. Now don’t forget, what he temporarily fixed would come back, so he threw out there that if trying to conceive naturally doesn’t work, he’ll refer us to a fertility specialist. Say what?!!! It’s been difficult. I feel like I’m back in the same boat and I choose not to go through the same procedure again. So I spent the last month and a half doing more research on PCOS and how to treat it in a more natural way. I honestly don’t want to be putting a bunch of crap in my body. I don’t want to slap a band-aid on PCOS. What my body’s going through, it’s not fair. It’s embarrassing. I’m tired of it!!!!!!!!!

So this year, I need to make some changes, especially for my health. I know that God has a baby boy or girl for us, and I pray every day that this will go away. 

Angelica